Imperial keeps staff rep

Imperial College London has withdrawn a plan to remove all elected staff and student representatives from its governing council.

At a meeting last week, council members agreed that the body needed to be slimmed down but decided to keep one elected staff representative and the student union president as members. The proposal must be approved by the Privy Council.

The Times Higher reported two weeks ago that Imperial planned to remove all six elected staff members and the student union president from the council to improve the efficiency of governance.

Mustafa Arif, union president, said many sub-committees had been abolished, meaning the main council would now consider issues such as finance. He said there had been "lively discussion" at the meeting, but elected staff representatives had failed to make the best case for retaining more than one on the council.